Blackrock College TY Dragons’ Den 2015

The Blackrock College Transition Year Dragons’ Den is an exciting enterprise initiative which provides TY students with an opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills. This initiative is made possible by the collaborative efforts of the College Union, TY and the Business Department. This is the 7th year of this Competition and it continues to evolve with a new feature of the final event, an update on previous participants.

Stephen Alger a Fifth Year gave a presentation on how his winning idea, Interactive Arts, has been developed in Fifth Year. There was also update on Stageville, a business launched this year by Simon Curran (Class of 2014) who is currently a 1st Year student in Trinity College. These stories clearly illustrate the enterprise opportunities that exist beyond the TY competition. Both the College Union and Business Department provide support to students who develop their business ideas after Dragons’ Den.

This year there were four Finalists who were shortlisted. They are all to be commended on the quality of their presentations delivered in front of 5 Dragons and all of TY. The prizes were awarded as follows:
1ST PRIZE
MJL Ireland (3-D printing of customised phone covers)
Marcus Ryan, Luke McCormack & Jack Crowley
2ND PRIZE
Last Second Cinema
James Cronin & Peter Stephenson
JOINT 3RD PRIZE
Blackrock PowerWashing
Peter O’Reilly, David Dillon & Mark Dignam

RESEEIT
Liam Bickers
The College is fortunate to have so many past students willing to support this initiative with many of them involved for the last seven years. Their enthusiasm and expertise is greatly appreciated. The final this year was judged by Chairperson Mr. Paul McGowan, Mr. Mervyn Greene, Mr. Aidan Corless, Mr. Louis Hoffman and Mr. Jonathan Stanley. The College also thanks the other Dragons who supported the Launch and Mentoring Sessions during the year. Many thanks to the members of the Business Department , TY Dean and Management Team for their hard work in encouraging the students and in facilitating this event. A special word of thanks to Mr Joseph Keating and DLR Student Enterprise Awards (SEA) for their support during the year through the provision of Workshops and the SEA County Final.

Finally, I thank Mr Cathal Copeland for his stewardship and inspiration